Program Notes

Haydn and Mozart met in the winter of 1781-82, starting a virtual father-son relationship that was to last for the ten years remaining in Mozart’s life. Haydn, then 49, was one of the leading composers of Europe; Mozart, at 25, was still making his mark as a composer and pianist in Vienna. The effect of the meeting on Mozart was profound, particularly with respect to the writing of chamber music.

Haydn had come to Vienna to supervise the performances and publication of his six new string quartets, those published as Opus 33, which he rightly considered another major step forward in his development of the quartet form. First in his Opus 20 quartets, published in 1774, and now in Opus 33, Haydn treated the form as a dialog among four instruments of equal importance rather than as a showpiece for the first violin. Further, he treated quartet-writing as serious composition, developing the thematic material as thoroughly and subtly as if it were symphonic.

Haydn, now largely retired from his strenuous duties as kappelmeister to the Esterhazy family, took Mozart under his wing. They not only became close friends and eating companions, but also joined together in playing quartets in the drawing rooms of their friends and patrons. In these informal evenings of music making, Haydn generally played second violin and Mozart the viola, his favorite instrument in performing chamber-music.

Mozart had tried writing string quartets ten years earlier, but had found the form unrewarding. Now, inspired by Haydn’s new models, he returned to the form and in the next three years wrote six new quartets, publishing them as a group in 1785. Significantly, they were among Mozart’s relatively few compositions arising purely from some inner need – that is, they were neither commissioned, nor written for Mozart’s public performance, nor designed to exhibit his qualifications for a particular position.

Haydn immediately recognized the six quartets’ merit. The quartets were first performed as a group in Mozart’s Vienna apartment in January and February, 1785, with Haydn attending and Mozart playing the viola. Mozart’s father Leopold arrived in time for the latter three and played one of the violin parts. After the performance, Leopold wrote his wife, Haydn took him aside and made his widely quoted remark, “Before God as an honest man, I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name.”

It may be advisable to take that story with a grain of salt since its source, Leopold, was an understandably proud father. What is a matter of record, however, is that Haydn expressed his high opinion of Mozart’s quartets in letters to friends. What is also a matter of record is Mozart’s effusive dedication of the quartets to Haydn when they were published:

“Here they are then, O great Man and my dearest Friend, those six children of mine. They are, it is true, the fruit of long and laborious endeavor, yet the hope inspired in me by several friends that it may be at least partly compensated encourages me....You yourself, dearest friend, told me of your satisfaction with them during your last visit to this Capital. It is this indulgence above all which urges me to commend them to you and encourages me to hope that they will not seem to you altogether unworthy of your favor. May it therefore please you to receive them kindly and to be their Father, Guide and Friend!”

Mozart composed the six quartets in two groups, separated by a gap of about 16 months. Part of this gap was undoubtedly due to Mozart’s hectic existence as composer, performer and teacher. But surely part was also due to the “long and laborious labor” that Mozart found necessary to compose quartets up to Haydn’s standard.

Today the six “Haydn quartets” – Nos. 387, 421, 428, 458, 464 and 465 in the Köchel catalog – are considered among the peaks of Mozart’s compositions. Indeed, in balance, subtlety and instrumental color they have never been surpassed by any composer.

This, the last of the quartets, completed on January 14, 1785, takes its nickname “Dissonance” from the adagio introduction to the first movement. At the time of publication, these 22 measures caused considerable consternation — Mozart had seemingly run wild with harmonic violations, harsh chords and pointless chromatic progressions. Some musicians suggested Mozart had failed to catch errors in the printed music, and returned their scores for correction. Even Haydn was nonplused – when asked to explain Mozart’s transgressions, he took the easy way out by remarking, “Well, if Mozart wrote it, he must have meant it.”

We now recognize the introduction’s unique effectiveness in creating a mood of suspense and mounting tension in preparation for the music that is to follow. While nothing further happens to jar our sensibilities, the quartet continues to operate at a high level of imagination.

The sonata-form first movement, for example, features some of Mozart’s most congenial themes and an intense and dramatic development. Note, further, the recall of the C minor coloring from the introduction’s opening measures just before the return of the main theme. Also, note how the repeated notes of the cello at the start of the introduction reappear in various guises at key points throughout the movement.

The slow movement is in the form of A-B-A-B, with the repetitions of A and B enriched and elaborated. The entire structure, moreover, is tied together by a subsidiary motive of four notes – two 16ths followed by two 8ths – which is repeated more than 70 times, mostly in overlapping dialogue between the cello and the first violin.

The minuet offers a contrast between the chromatic flavor of its main section and the wide melodic intervals of the trio. The light-hearted main theme of the finale suggests that it is to be a rondo, but the design turns out to be sonata form, with a lyrical third theme introduced unexpectedly and expanded later in the movement.

Haydn and Mozart met in the winter of 1781-82, starting a virtual father-son relationship that was to last for the ten years remaining in Mozart’s life. Haydn, then 49, was one of the leading composers of Europe; Mozart, at 25, was still making his mark as a composer and pianist in Vienna. The effect of the meeting on Mozart was profound, particularly with respect to the writing of chamber music.

Haydn had come to Vienna to supervise the performances and publication of his six new string quartets, those published as Opus 33, which he rightly considered another major step forward in his development of the quartet form. First in his Opus 20 quartets, published in 1774, and now in Opus 33, Haydn treated the form as a dialog among four instruments of equal importance rather than as a showpiece for the first violin. Further, he treated quartet-writing as serious composition, developing the thematic material as thoroughly and subtly as if it were symphonic.

Haydn now took Mozart under his wing. They not only became close friends and eating companions, but also joined together in playing quartets in the drawing rooms of their friends and patrons. In these informal evenings of music making, Haydn generally played second violin and Mozart the viola, his favorite instrument in performing chamber-music.

Mozart had tried writing string quartets ten years earlier, but had found the form unrewarding. Now, inspired by Haydn’s new models, he returned to the form and in the next three years wrote six new quartets, publishing them as a group in 1785. Significantly, they were among Mozart’s relatively few compositions arising purely from some inner need – that is, they were neither commissioned, nor written for Mozart’s public performance, nor designed to exhibit his qualifications for a particular position.

Haydn immediately recognized the six quartets’ merit. The quartets were first performed as a group in Mozart’s Vienna apartment in January and February 1785, with Haydn attending and Mozart playing the viola. Mozart’s father Leopold arrived in time for the latter three and played one of the violin parts. After the performance, Leopold wrote his wife that Haydn took him aside and made this widely quoted remark, “Before God as an honest man, I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name.”

It may be advisable to take that story with a grain of salt since its source, Leopold, was an understandably proud father. But what is a matter of written record is that Haydn expressed his high opinion of Mozart’s quartets in letters to friends. What is also a matter of written record is Mozart’s effusive dedication of the quartets to Haydn when they were published.

Here they are then, O great Man and my dearest Friend, those six children of mine. They are, it is true, the fruit of long and laborious endeavor, yet the hope inspired in me by several friends that it may be at least partly compensated encourages me....You yourself, dearest friend, told me of your satisfaction with them during your last visit to this Capital. It is this indulgence above all which urges me to commend them to you and encourages me to hope that they will not seem to you altogether unworthy of your favor. May it therefore please you to receive them kindly and to be their Father, Guide and Friend!

Mozart composed the six quartets in two groups, separated by a gap of about 16 months. Part of this gap was undoubtedly due to Mozart’s hectic existence as composer, performer and teacher. But surely part was also due to the “long and laborious labor” that Mozart found necessary to compose quartets up to Haydn’s standard.

Today the six “Haydn quartets” - Nos. 387, 421, 428, 458, 464 and 465 in the Köchel catalog - are considered among the peaks of Mozart’s compositions. Indeed, in balance, subtlety and instrumental color, they have never been surpassed by any composer.

This, the last of the quartets, completed on January 14, 1785, takes its nickname “Dissonant” from the adagio introduction to the first movement. At the time of publication, these 22 measures caused considerable consternation - Mozart had seemingly run wild with harmonic violations, harsh chords, and pointless chromatic progressions. Some musicians suggested Mozart had failed to catch errors in the printed music, and returned their scores for correction. Even Haydn was nonplussed – when asked to explain Mozart’s transgressions, he took the easy way out by remarking, “Well, if Mozart wrote it, he must have meant it.”

We now recognize the introduction’s unique effectiveness in creating a mood of suspense and mounting tension in preparation for the allegro that is to follow. While nothing further happens to jar our sensibilities, the quartet continues to operate at a high level of imagination.

The sonata-form first movement, for example, features some of Mozart’s most congenial themes and an intense and dramatic development. Note further, the recall of the harmonic coloring from the introduction’s opening measures just before the return of the main theme. Also, note how the repeated notes of the cello at the start of the introduction reappear in various guises at key points throughout the movement.

The slow movement, andante cantabile, is in the form of A-B-A-B, with the repetitions of A and B enriched and elaborated. The entire structure, moreover, is tied together by a subsidiary motive of four notes – two 16ths followed by two 8ths – which is repeated more than 70 times, mostly in overlapping dialogue between the cello and the first violin.

The minuet offers a contrast between the chromatic flavor of its main section and the wide melodic intervals of the trio. The light-hearted main theme of the finale, allegro, suggests that it is to be a rondo, but the design turns out to be sonata form, with a lyrical third theme introduced unexpectedly and expanded later in the movement.